Parents react to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest

Parents are once again weighing the risks and benefits of letting their kids play football after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 game.

The 24-year-old Hamlin got to his feet before falling to the ground. He received CPR on the field for at least 10 minutes, and a Buffalo Bills statement says Hamlin’s “heart rate recovered” before being taken to the University of Cincinnati’s Level 1 Trauma Center.

At the moment, Hamlin is sedated and in critical conditionAccording to the Buffalo Bills. A spokesperson for the University of Cincinnati Medical Center tells TODAY.com, “We do not have an update to provide at this time.”

“We don’t know exactly what happened, (and) we don’t know exactly what his medical condition was before this,” Dr. John Torres, senior medical correspondent for NBC News, told TODAY on Jan. 3.

His terrifying collapse reminds parents of the dangers in all sports, especially football. Parents and doctors are mostly concerned about concussions, not cardiac arrests. Brain injuries remain the biggest concern, but Hamlin’s health battle shines a wider spotlight on the difficult decisions parents make about letting their children play football.

Laura Donovan’s husband is a big football fan, she says, and played football in high school. But the Oregon mother of two says neither of them would be sad if their sons never wanted to play.

“I know there’s a risk of concussion in many sports, but football seems to be the most brutal of the bunch,” Donovan, 34, told TODAY.com. He says he always hoped soccer would be illegal by the time his 2- and 4-year-old sons were old enough to play, but that seems unlikely.

If his sons want to play football, Donovan says he wouldn’t absolutely forbid it.

“I present information about the risk of concussion and other injuries. I don’t want either child to rebel, so I can only emphasize the risk factor,” says Donovan, who lives in Oregon. “I really hope neither boy wants to play, but I also don’t want my very negative reaction to be the reason they’re looking for football.”

Survey: Parents are worried about football

Concerns about football security are not new. A 2018 poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal revealed 48% of parents said they encourage their children to play another sport.

Although Hamlins’ injury has rejuvenated the debate, Dr. Steven Reisman, cardiologist and director New York Cardiac Diagnostic Centersays cardiac arrest is not the biggest cause of injury.

“The heart is controlled by an electrical rhythm. If you get blunt trauma to the chest during what’s called a vulnerable period, it can disrupt your rhythm and cause cardiac arrest,” Reisman tells TODAY.com. “Football is a traumatic sport, but when you get hit by a baseball, you can get hit in the chest. I don’t think this is the biggest problem in football, but the more common problems are head and back injuries.”

A the study was published in the American Journal for Preventative Medicine In 2022, it was found that more than 6 million children have suffered from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The same study found that TBIs in girls increased, while injuries in boys decreased, likely due to “changed attitudes toward concussions in sports, particularly football,” said Dr. Alan Cook, co-author of the study.

Casey Andrews, 41, says she would be relieved if her 6-year-old son stayed away from football, but in the end, she won’t stop him.

“My initial concern is just about the culture,” Andrews, of Idaho, told TODAY.com. My other reservation is about the physical effects of the sport, particularly head injuries.

Although what happened to Hamlin is rare, Andrews says his situation “definitely confirms” his fear.

“I think there’s a perception, especially in sports at the school level, that everything is safe,” he says. “I think that notion is dangerous.”

He says he intends to make it clear that he thinks youth football is a bad idea. “Luckily,” she says, “so far he seems to be an IT-oriented guy, so we were hoping for a chess club.

Parents who say yes to football

Eric Masker, 39, says he was worried about injuries and “social aspects” when his two oldest sons, aged 16 and 14, wanted to play football. But he says he sees the benefits, too.

“I also see how much they love to play, how happy it makes them and how it motivates them to succeed in other areas of their lives,” Masker, a father of four who lives in Alaska, tells TODAY.com, adding that his partner was equally hesitant. “At the end of the day, we’re on the same team, and that’s encouraging them to do what they love and helping them prepare for injury or mitigate the potential for injury.”

Recently, Masker’s 11-year-old daughter said she wants to play flag football, and she says she had the same conversation with her two oldest sons.

“I start by encouraging them and gently asking them why, without implying that they shouldn’t be interested,” she says. “If we find superficial answers, I try to present something more to think about, like teammates who depend on you, criticism from coaches and players, and if it’s something they can see themselves doing for more than a couple of years.”

Hannah Murphy, 34, says she loves soccer and was thrilled when her 9-year-old son wanted to play. But after watching him play football for two years, the Tennessee mother of two says she began to worry about the potential for injury due to the “obvious size difference between some of the kids.”

“Every year the competition gets more competitive and more intense,” Murphy tells TODAY.com. “I worked in clinical healthcare for over a decade, splitting my time pretty evenly between sports medicine and the emergency department, so I’ve seen a lot of bad injuries.”

When his son asked permission to play football, Murphy was open about the potential danger.

“‘Football hurts’ were my exact words,” he explains. “My decision to let him play basically came down to this: from everything I’ve seen in healthcare, only a fraction of injuries can be caused by football.”

‘Let me think about it’

Kyle Vilmont, 35, works at a rehabilitation hospital and, like Murphy, has seen his share of sports-related injuries. So when her 8-year-old son showed interest in playing soccer, she hesitated.

“I felt anxious, but also guilty,” the mother of two tells TODAY.com. “He’s very small and I’m worried about any kind of injury. The guilt comes from knowing how much he wants to play and I don’t want to stop him from doing something he loves.”

After her son had been asking to play football for more than a year, Vilmont, of Nebraska, agreed to let him play flag football, saying she hoped it would help her son understand the basics and “let him be more aware of who he is.” should be done and avoid possible injuries.”

“For this upcoming football season, I’ve developed a catchphrase: ‘Let me think about it,'” he adds.

Murphy is in the same boat: He hasn’t decided that his son will play football next season.

“Both my son and I were hesitant,” she explains. “He sees now how intense it is and how tough you have to be to make it as a player. I worry that when the sport becomes too intense, it’s not fun anymore. I know accidents can happen in any environment, but some are definitely more common in football, and if the game is no longer a joy to play, what’s the point of getting injured?”

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